Results of the Distributed Biomedical Imaging Network: Ten years serving the scientific community

The Distributed Biomedical Imaging Network (ReDIB) is a Scientific and Technical Infrastructure that is distributed across four hubs and has been offering its services to the national and international scientific community for 10 years. Through its competitive open access calls (OACs), ReDIB users have had access to the most advanced biomedical imaging techniques in both basic and clinical research. This article describes the activity and results of the ReDIB OACs between 2014 and 2024.

A retrospective longitudinal descriptive study was carried out. The following information was included: number of OACs, the applications submitted, the sector, countries of origin, percentage of use of essential equipment and the scientific results obtained from granting access.

In 14 OACs, 166 proposals were submitted, of which 144 were within the last four years. The acceptance rate was high (97%). 88.2% of the applications were related to biomedicine, with 69.3% coming from universities and research institutes. Between 2020 and 2024, 144 applications were granted, of which 69% used the infrastructures, with an average of 0.99 of scientific results per access granted.

The ReDIB OAC system has offered the research community the opportunity to access cutting-edge technologies in biomedical imaging, with excellent scientific results. The continuous technological modernisation and the incorporation of new infrastructures have increased the capacity of the service, resulting in a significant increase in the number of scientific publications per access granted.